Since 1987, India has been celebrating National Science Day (NSD) on February 28 of every year. NSD is meant for emphasizing the role of science in national development and for showcasing the country’s achievements in science and technology. Starting from 1997, NSD celebration has been made thematic.
Themes for NSD have been contextual and they are intended to sensitize people on the impending challenges which demand scientific and technological solutions. In 2024, the theme for NSD was, ‘Indigenous Technology for Viksit Bharat’. The phrase ‘indigenous technology’ literally means technological knowledge and skills used by indigenous people to meet their needs. The dictionary meaning of the word ‘indigenization’ is an action or process of bringing something under control of the people native to an area. In line with this meaning, in the Indian S&T sector, the word indigenous is used to denote local or home-grown technology as against the imported technology. This meaning is implied in the statement of the Department of Science and Technology -“The theme represents a strategic focus on promoting public appreciation for science, technology and innovation, and accomplishments of Indian scientists to address challenges through home-grown technologies for overall well-being,”
History has repeatedly shown that technology is indeed essential for rapid development of any society. While a country can acquire technology in a variety of ways, what matters in actual terms is the technology it owns. It is the indigenous technology that protects it from international protectionism and ever escalating geopolitical tensions. The theme is, therefore, extremely relevant and important for India to make the transition from ‘developing’ to ‘developed’ country.
MODES OF ACQUISITION OF TECHNOLOGY
A country can acquire technology in a number of ways. In 2013, I was fortunate to listen to Prof G Sundararajan of ARCI, Hyderabad (International Advanced Research Centre for Powder Metallurgy and New Materials), who described various modes of technology acquisition, and their pros and cons as follows:
Trade is the most elementary mode of technology acquisition. This relates to high technology products that are sold in India. Here, the technology details such as materials, processes and assembly are completely hidden. Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) is a mode in which a foreign company sets up a manufacturing unit for a product based on its technology. In this case, the technology is visible but not available for exploitation. In Joint Venture, a foreign company with its technology sets up a production plant jointly with an Indian entity which operates the plant and markets the products. Here, too, the technology is not available for exploitation. In the Buyback Agreement, a foreign original equipment manufacturer (OEM) helps an Indian company to set up a component production plant and buys back the product. In this case, technology is given to an Indian entity which does incremental innovation to reduce cost and increase quality; however, these are constrained by OEM requirements. The most common mode of acquisition of technology is through license from a foreign company. Here, an Indian company sets up a production plant based on the know-how provided by a foreign company. The technology details are known, but further improvement of the technology is not possible. In all these modes of technology acquisition, there exists no scope for the Indian company to expand outside India.
Indigenous technology implies that an Indian entity develops technology on its own and sets up a production plant or licenses it to other Indian entities. Here, the technology details are known and there is always a scope for further upgradation and for expanding business outside India. Another variation of this situation is collaboration between Indian industry and Indian research institutes for development of a technology. India needs such indigenous technologies that are Indian in terms of design, materials and assembly.
INDIGENOUS TECHNOLOGIES OF ANCIENT INDIA
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Ancient India was known for her home-grown technologies for a very long time. Technologies for production of rust-less iron and crucible iron (wootz) were developed way back in the 4th century BCE. India also developed mature technologies for zinc and copper metal production. Indian steel was exported to the Arab world and Europe for making the famed Damascus swords. High quality Indian steel was exported to England as late as the 19th century. The production capacity was almost semi-industrial; for example, zinc smelting operations at Zawar produced one lakh tons of metallic zinc during 13th-18th century. Indian technologies inspired European researchers; for example, D Mushet took a patent for carbon steel in 1800 and his process was similar to what ancient Indians used for making their wootz. In 1740, William Champion established zinc metal production at Bristol based on the downward distillation process of Zawar.
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High quality fabric produced by Indian weavers was in demand all over the world from the days of Indus civilization. Ancient India also excelled in ship building ever since the inhabitants of Indus civilization established trading contact with Mesopotamia. These and many other technologies of ancient India brought immense prosperity and made it indeed Viksit.
DESTRUCTION AND REBUILDING DURING BRITISH RULE
In the British period, India’s indigenous industry faced a steep challenge from the European industry which had started using steam power for mass production. This technological change together with the protectionist British policies decimated indigenous industry all together. The effect of this destruction was perhaps largest in Bengal; its indigenous cotton industry could not cope with the onslaught of the cotton industry of Manchester. This is where probably the seeds of the Indian science movement were sown.
Dr Mahendra Lal Sircar started a campaign for a national science association and established the Indian Association of Cultivation of Science (IACS) in 1876. The objective of this association was stated clearly by him in the annual report of 1890 of IACS. He said: “Competition between the nations of the earth, which every passing year became fierce. Survival depended on making the most of the material resources by efficient industry. But the destiny of those industries would inevitably be decided by what transpired in the laboratory. The laboratory was thus in the final reckoning place where the world’s artistic and industrial triumph would be won.”
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While remembering the scientists of pre-independence India, we seldom appreciate that many of them had a grand dream of rejuvenating indigenous industry using modern science and technology. Take for example, Acharya Prafulla Chandra Ray, who founded the Bengal Chemicals and Pharmaceutical Work in 1892 and developed it as a successful enterprise. He was also associated with many other commercial ventures such as Bengal potteries, Bengal enamel, National tanneries, etc. Contribution of Pramatha Nath Bose in the establishment of Tata Iron and Steel Works at Sakchi in 1907 is well known. Ruchi Ram Sahni established a unit for manufacturing of scientific equipment at Punjab Science Institute in 1887 and further went on to establish a sulphuric acid factory in 1914. TK Gujjar, who developed a medicine for plague, established Alembic Chemical Works at Baroda in 1907 under the patronage of Maharaja of Baroda. Renowned civil engineer Sir M Visvesvaraya’s contributions to development of indigenous technology and industry are too well known. Notable amongst them are automatic weir water floodgate system for Khadakwasala dam, flood protection system for Hyderabad, water supply and drainage system at Aden, Mysore soap factory and Mysore Iron and Steel works, etc. Shankar Abaji Bhise, known as the Edison of India, had over 200 inventions and over 40 patents. It is worth mentioning that the spectrometer of CV Raman was an indigenous instrument, however, Indian scientists of later years did not commercialize it.
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JOURNEY POST-INDEPENDENCE
India’s independence in 1947 was on the backdrop of a number of world events which shaped the progress of technology in later years. The end of World War II in 1945 had demonstrated successful war efforts backed by high end technology. The Manhattan project had shown the way for institutionalization of S&T. WWII was followed by the ‘Cold War’ which was basically a technological race for military superiority. Technological progress was so captivating that India did not remain untouched by the new turn of events on the world stage. The newly independent nation, thus, had to balance between technologies for socioeconomic development and the technologies emerging out of WWII and the cold war.
In the first two decades or so after Independence, India received technology inputs from USA, Canada, UK, France and USSR through intergovernmental agreements. Indian scientists and engineers worked with these inputs and brought in some sort of self-sufficiency in select sectors of economy and strategic areas. In fact, the Green Revolution in India started with the agricultural technology pioneered by Norman Borlaug in Mexico. Foreign collaborations, thus, shaped the initial trajectory of technology development in India. This is not to take away credit from Indian scientists and technologists, however, the mute question is whether to call such technologies of that phase indigenous or not.
The Pokhran nuclear test in 1974 brought India under international sanctions and ended international cooperation. This started the second phase of technology development, which was articulated in the S&T Policy of 1983. Some key points were: Attaining technological competence and self-reliance to reduce vulnerability in strategic and critical areas; development and absorption of indigenous technology and adaptation of select imported technology appropriate to national priorities and resources; and development of internationally competitive technologies with export potential.
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The hallmark of this phase was the buzzword, ‘import substitute’, i.e., a technology that substitutes foreign technology. During this phase significant efforts were spent in developing indigenous technologies. Development of low- and high-end scientific instruments was also taken up in this phase. Due to international sanctions and supply chain disruption, the technologies developed in this phase could not meet the international standards. Average time scale for technology development was close to 20-40 years; the time scale in which technologies become obsolete. There were some success stories, but their export potential was questionable owing to IPR infringements. Private sector was not enthusiastic to adapt these indigenous technologies for a variety of reasons.
Globalization of the Indian economy in 1992, changed the technology scenario altogether. World had moved far ahead in technology and the idea of ‘import substitute’ became obsolete except in some strategic areas. Availability of foreign exchange in adequate quantity encouraged research institutes to import latest foreign made instruments. This essentially diluted the spirit of developing own equipment and instruments; until then it was a norm for research students to develop instruments required for their research. Indian industries did not want to reinvent the wheel but wanted to leapfrog to the current level of technology. They readily entered into foreign collaborations. Some companies developed technology platforms by outsourcing R&D across the world which gave them a way to own technology. Cash rich Indian industries acquired technology by buying high-tech international companies. Presence of foreign technology became a norm in every sphere of the economy.
WAY FORWARD
After 30 years of globalization, we have come back to square one, i.e., development of indigenous technologies. It is important to note that the word ‘indigenous’ has a very limited meaning, i.e. an import substitute. Experience of ’70s and ’80s has shown that import substitutes are of lower quality, and therefore, India needs to go beyond this narrow definition and develop original technologies which can compete globally.
The competition between the nations of the earth, which Dr Mahendra Lal Sircar described as fierce in 1890, has become fiercer and cut-throat in respect of economic development, infrastructure, agriculture and military. The prosperity of a nation and its standing on the world stage are decided by the technologies developed by its research laboratories, both in private and public sectors. This is the challenge that we have to meet. Design, development and commercialization of such technologies will require a strong coordination between government, scientists/engineers, research institutes and industry. There are no easy fixes here, it will have to be done with a great deal of planning and hard work.
We need to appreciate the basic premises of technology development. A technology is a means to fulfil human purpose. There is no place for “Me-Too” technologies here. Technology must create an economy and jobs. As Arthur Brian says, technology relies heavily on a deep set of shared tacit knowledge, which takes time to build. We also need to avoid spreading too thin. We want to do everything at one go. Can we identify four to five strong areas to begin with and set up a time bound program with clear objectives and deliverables? Tacit knowledge will ultimately decide the success.
Finally, we need to acknowledge that disruptive technologies have come from research in universities (https://www.onlineuniversities.com/blog/2012/08/100-important-innovations-that-came-from-university-research/); for example, Google (Stanford University), Internet (MIT), Touch screen (Kent University), Lithium-ion battery (MIT), Wireless local area network (Hawaii University), Android (Osaka University), etc. We need to strengthen research in our universities to make them the centres of technology development.
*The writer is formerly Distinguished Scientist & Director Chemistry Group of BARC and former Senior Professor, Department of Physics, IIT Bombay.
